I have always enjoyed Mike's posts about his trips to
various games, so this is a sort of compliment to
him. (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery)
MY TRIP TO ALASKA
This is an overview of my most recent trip to see college hockey
in action. As everyone on the HOCKEY-L list knows, I am a big fan
of college hockey. A *real big* fan. In fact, I don't do anything
else except watch college hockey. If I am not watching the game, or
talking about the game, or drinking lots of beer with coaches of the
game, I am having withdrawal pains. You may ask, "How does Mike
get enough money to go on all these trips?!" Let me put it this
way: My cable company knows it's way around the new cable regulations
a whole lot better than Maine knows the NCAA guidelines. End of
story.
The trip was planned in the usual way: That is, no plan at all. I
was just taking a break from reading HOCKEY-L on my shiny new
Cray XMP, and had started playing a game of SEGA Hockey, (a great
game by the way. The newest version includes improvements suggested
by me. The programmers are really great guys. If you're ever in the
Tokyo area, look 'em up) when the Cray beeped. More mail. Probably
from another rabid BU fan, angry about my complimenting of Maine, I
thought. But no! It was a message from the coach of the Jamacian
bobsled team, Doobie Marley.
Doobie has always been a good friend of mine, with quite a few
connections. He told me about this great game that would be
happening up in Fairbanks-Alaska. I was thrilled! I love long
trips, as Doobie knew well. If you ever get a chance to visit
Doobmeister on his sunny island, try some his wife's brownies. They
are just great! I told Doobie thanks, and that I would be there,
even though I would be missing my meeting with Bill Clinton. I told
Billy Boy this, and he took it kind of hard. Sorry, Bill, hockey is
my life. College hockey.
6:00 A.M. FRIDAY MORNING: Finished reading Hockey-L. Woke up
Heather and got her in the car. The latest issue of The Hockey News
had come, but the dog, (A minature poodle or something we have had
for 10 years, and a loving part of our family) numb thing, had chewed
it up! So after flushing it down the toilet (stupid mutt) I got in
the car and drove to the airport. It's hard to drive with full
hockey gear on, but hey... I'm a fan.
THE AIRPORT:
Whew, talk about a tough times! It seems the rivets in the shoulder
pads set off the airports metal detectors. My old Cooper pads never
did that, but oh well! We finally got on the plane, and I was able to
have a nice chat with the stewardess while we were stuck on the ground
for awhile. It seems she was a Hockey-L fan! We chatted about the
current state of the Merrimack hockey locker room, and my color
commentary. She got my autograph, and I got free drinks all the
way to Alaska. Nice girl.
ALASKA
It's big. Real big. If Maine thinks that they are in the woods, they
have never seen Alaska. We are talking Grizzly Adams here. The men
are men, the women are men, the dogs are men, and the hockey players
are bears that happen to wear skates and wield sticks. We arrived in
Fairbanks after an uneventful flight. There were many dignitaries
at the airport to greet me, but I won't bore all of you by dropping
names. It's just not my style. We picked up the rental and made our
way through the woods to the arena. But before we got there, we
made one stop. And a fateful stop it was.
HEATHER AND THE GRIZZLY BEAR
I must say this about Heather. She is an animal lover, as anyone who
has seen her playing with our poodle knows. :-) We took a break
from driving to stop at a picnic area and eat lunch. I was reading
Hockey-L on my laptop, when a noise distracted me. I looked up to
Heather walking accross a field towards the biggest bear I have ever
seen. As I got out of the car and ran frantically towards her, I
heard her telling the bear something about being "sorry about your
ineligibility..." The bear, not speaking English, was about to whack
her, but a powerful spear from my trusty ProFiber drove the beast
away. Shaken, we got into the car again. Moral: Don't talk English
to French bears.
THE GAME:
We got to the Arena, and met with the leader of the fan club there.
He was a great guy, and introduced me to the radio announcer. I
then met the head coach of the team, but never got his name. Well,
maybe I did, but only after the fifth pitcher of beer. In fact, I
don't really remember the game or anything after that, except waking
up on the plane, feeling like crap. I have vauge recollections of
trying to take the coach's place after he passed out, but getting
confused and putting to many men on the ice. I think I made the
captain of the team take over after that. Great guy. He will go far
in any State Park. Then I think I helped the announcer with color
for the game, but I may have overdone it, because all I remember
is some police officers trying to get me down from the rafters...
Heather can't tell me what happened either, as she was at a nearby
apartment for half the game, interviewing redshirts. I guess
Alaska won.
ANOTHER GREAT WEEKEND!
I must say, thanks to all the people (and bears) in Alaska that
made this trip so enjoyable: John, Bill, Muffy, Buffy, and most
importantly, Anhueser-Busch. I have never met such a great bunch
of guys, and I'm sure Fairbanks has the chance to be National
Champions!!! Hopefully I'll make it up there again soon.
For all you Hockey-Le'rs, watch for my next post! I may be coming
to your town soon! ;-)
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93
<<<<< Color Voice of the (14-18-2) Merrimack Warriors WCCM 800 AM >>>>>
Well, that was fun. I hope you all enjoyed it. It was sort
of my apology for the Anti-B.U. post.
I just hope Mike dosen't sue me.
Sincerely,
Brent
M-A-I-N-E...Goooooo BLUE!!!!
Annoying, isn't it? ;)
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